The following post is from last December:
At the end of a long day of solo Christmas shopping, and after waiting for the waitresses to finish their line dance in the aisle, I settled into a comfortable booth at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I like a noisy restaurant with music. I've related this story before. A few years ago while on vacation at that stately Hilton Head Island off the coast of South Carolina, my wife and I ate lunch at one of those old fashioned diners with all the neon on the outside, and checkerboard linoleum floors and round swivelling chairs at the ice cream bar on the inside. This one had individual jukeboxes at every booth. It was a little too quiet so after ordering I put some quarters in the machine. I picked a Frank Sinatra song first and could see the robotic arm of the main jukebox move sideways and pick out a record (actually a CD). The song started and I quickly began flipping the song menu to see what this crazy song was.....Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me...by some.....group.....called the Pussycat Dolls.
Was it my imagination or were people looking over to see who chose this? The song ended and I hurriedly chose a different tune to show the folks that I was somewhat normal.....the arm moved...the song was chosen.....Make this place sizzle like a summertime cookout. Prowl for the best chick, yes, I'm on the lookout! (folks, trust me, I Googled these lyrics just now....I didn't memorize them, and some of them I can't even write in this post). My wife was laughing as I looked around for some hidden Candid Camera. Now you may not believe this but I did it again.... Andy Williams this time...but the jukebox from Hades struck again. We ate quickly and left.
But I digress.....I love a steakhouse milieu. As I type this I'm looking over at our television. It sits in the far corner of our living room and has only a 21 inch screen. When it's on, one almost has to strain their eyes to see the people's faces. In my booth I looked up to see the ubiquitous giant television screen that restaurants have and as always I was impressed at what technology can do. Let me describe the show that was selected.....it was sports. The set and all the colors were a feast for the eyes. The main commentator must be a very important man for his desk sat alone and elevated, made of clear Plexiglas. He spoke to three other men whose images sort of hung in the air as spirits to be summoned at will. If there was a sound, I could not hear it but a caption of what they were talking about was at the bottom. Apparently there was someone who is important and was upset because the coach had rested him in the fourth quarter of a football game. One of the images would be summoned in a close-up as he spoke, followed by the main host, then another image and back and forth like this as they opined on what must be a very important issue, the player who was upset. The caption changed and now American men across the country were viewing what would put their reasoning skills to use pondering if someone named McCoy should shake Chip's hand! Again the images came close as this most important problem in America today was being massaged to bring peace between McCoy and Chip.
The message in this post is a serious one. I tried to preface it with a little humor but it is actually life or death. I'm writing here to the American male fifty years of age and older. We remember America as it once was; at least we were educated at a time when we were proud to see that striped flag with the white stars over blue in the upper left corner. John Wayne was a hero then. George Washington was an even greater hero. We, as children, felt secure and thankful for those heroes on beachheads in the Pacific and forested hillsides of Europe. We had generals like George Patton and Douglas MacArthur, and soldiers like Audie Murphy and Sgt York. We still have the soldiers but the generals have been somewhat hamstrung by the most unimpressive of presidents we ever sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our weak Congress almost makes us wish that we had a king and our tyrannical king makes us wish that we had a Congress! Yet we glory on in our sports teams. The origin and meaning of the phrase may be somewhat in doubt but it still holds its sway in our minds....The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton...but if a similar phrase is to be constructed in the future it may read....American liberty and freedoms were lost on the playing fields of ESPN.
I know very well the allure of American sports. I stood shouting on the wooden benches at Pitt Stadium and paraded through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh after a Super Bowl win. I was for many years not vigilant for my country, my soul or my country's soul. I thus share in the responsibility of America's failures that have resulted in the politically correct and suicidal culture that rules us today. I testify here that the thrills of those days were more than a waste of time for they have repercussions. All one can do when confronted with the evidences of serial dereliction of duty is to make amends with an extreme dedication from that time forward. All one can do when one sees oneself, in all one's abysmal iniquity, is to fall before the One offended and seek mercy and pardon.
I testify also that all of the emotions combined in a life based on sports is not equal to but a moment of feeling the grace of forgiveness found at the foot of Calvary, and that all the excitements combined of winning cannot compare to understanding the caption written on the rider of the white horse in Revelation 19:16.... KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
At the end of a long day of solo Christmas shopping, and after waiting for the waitresses to finish their line dance in the aisle, I settled into a comfortable booth at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I like a noisy restaurant with music. I've related this story before. A few years ago while on vacation at that stately Hilton Head Island off the coast of South Carolina, my wife and I ate lunch at one of those old fashioned diners with all the neon on the outside, and checkerboard linoleum floors and round swivelling chairs at the ice cream bar on the inside. This one had individual jukeboxes at every booth. It was a little too quiet so after ordering I put some quarters in the machine. I picked a Frank Sinatra song first and could see the robotic arm of the main jukebox move sideways and pick out a record (actually a CD). The song started and I quickly began flipping the song menu to see what this crazy song was.....Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me...by some.....group.....called the Pussycat Dolls.
Was it my imagination or were people looking over to see who chose this? The song ended and I hurriedly chose a different tune to show the folks that I was somewhat normal.....the arm moved...the song was chosen.....Make this place sizzle like a summertime cookout. Prowl for the best chick, yes, I'm on the lookout! (folks, trust me, I Googled these lyrics just now....I didn't memorize them, and some of them I can't even write in this post). My wife was laughing as I looked around for some hidden Candid Camera. Now you may not believe this but I did it again.... Andy Williams this time...but the jukebox from Hades struck again. We ate quickly and left.
But I digress.....I love a steakhouse milieu. As I type this I'm looking over at our television. It sits in the far corner of our living room and has only a 21 inch screen. When it's on, one almost has to strain their eyes to see the people's faces. In my booth I looked up to see the ubiquitous giant television screen that restaurants have and as always I was impressed at what technology can do. Let me describe the show that was selected.....it was sports. The set and all the colors were a feast for the eyes. The main commentator must be a very important man for his desk sat alone and elevated, made of clear Plexiglas. He spoke to three other men whose images sort of hung in the air as spirits to be summoned at will. If there was a sound, I could not hear it but a caption of what they were talking about was at the bottom. Apparently there was someone who is important and was upset because the coach had rested him in the fourth quarter of a football game. One of the images would be summoned in a close-up as he spoke, followed by the main host, then another image and back and forth like this as they opined on what must be a very important issue, the player who was upset. The caption changed and now American men across the country were viewing what would put their reasoning skills to use pondering if someone named McCoy should shake Chip's hand! Again the images came close as this most important problem in America today was being massaged to bring peace between McCoy and Chip.
The message in this post is a serious one. I tried to preface it with a little humor but it is actually life or death. I'm writing here to the American male fifty years of age and older. We remember America as it once was; at least we were educated at a time when we were proud to see that striped flag with the white stars over blue in the upper left corner. John Wayne was a hero then. George Washington was an even greater hero. We, as children, felt secure and thankful for those heroes on beachheads in the Pacific and forested hillsides of Europe. We had generals like George Patton and Douglas MacArthur, and soldiers like Audie Murphy and Sgt York. We still have the soldiers but the generals have been somewhat hamstrung by the most unimpressive of presidents we ever sent to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our weak Congress almost makes us wish that we had a king and our tyrannical king makes us wish that we had a Congress! Yet we glory on in our sports teams. The origin and meaning of the phrase may be somewhat in doubt but it still holds its sway in our minds....The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton...but if a similar phrase is to be constructed in the future it may read....American liberty and freedoms were lost on the playing fields of ESPN.
I know very well the allure of American sports. I stood shouting on the wooden benches at Pitt Stadium and paraded through the streets of downtown Pittsburgh after a Super Bowl win. I was for many years not vigilant for my country, my soul or my country's soul. I thus share in the responsibility of America's failures that have resulted in the politically correct and suicidal culture that rules us today. I testify here that the thrills of those days were more than a waste of time for they have repercussions. All one can do when confronted with the evidences of serial dereliction of duty is to make amends with an extreme dedication from that time forward. All one can do when one sees oneself, in all one's abysmal iniquity, is to fall before the One offended and seek mercy and pardon.
I testify also that all of the emotions combined in a life based on sports is not equal to but a moment of feeling the grace of forgiveness found at the foot of Calvary, and that all the excitements combined of winning cannot compare to understanding the caption written on the rider of the white horse in Revelation 19:16.... KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
